Sailing Tour of the Caldera

Thursday began with a bit of a disappointment when we found out our snorkeling trip had been canceled due to dangerous winds. The shuttle driver felt bad and offered to take us down the hill into Fira so the trip was not wasted. Since it was still early enough, we were able to book a boat tour around the volcano for later in the day, which was something we had planned to do anyway. We ate at a little shop called Toasty and then decided to hike back to our town. After what felt like an eternity, we finally completed the 2 mile uphill torture climb and rested in our room for the afternoon.

Two hours later we caught a cab and then rode the cable car into Fira Skala Port to catch our boat. We began by sailing to Palia Kameni and swimming in the hot springs. It did not seem that warm until we had to swim back to the boat and then we realized how different the temperatures were! The sulfur in the water turned our skin orange and stained the white parts on Linc's suit!! Our skin came clean so let's hope the suit does too! After about thirty minutes of swimming, the boat horn sounded and we climbed back on board.

Leaving port on the sailboat.

Looking back at Santorini from the boat.

You can see how the water turns from beautiful blue to sulfur brown!
The hot spring was tucked away in a little cove right near an old church.

Do we look tanner? Or maybe that's just the orange sulfur glow!

From the hot springs we sailed north to Nea Kameni which is the youngest active volcano in the Mediterranean. It took about thirty minutes to hike to the top and the view was outstanding! On the way up we saw smoking sulfur rocks and the whole "island" was black from the lava. The last eruption was in 1950 and both islands are monitored closely by scientists. On the way down, Linc and I took various other paths that led us to more smoldering sulfur and some additional incredible views. We were thoroughly exhausted by the time we got back to the boat and could not wait for dinner!

The fleet of boats docked at Nea Kameni.

Hiking to the top of the volcano.

The smoking sulfur effect is not as clear in this picture...nor is the smell!

Looking back at Palia Kameni from the top!

Linc enjoying the view from the top and seeing
if he can spot our hotel on the other side.

Time to head back! It's a long way down...

Since we'd been eating Greek food for almost a week and a half we were definitely ready for a bit of variety! Thankfully right after the entrance to the cable cars was a great little Chinese restaurant that the locals recommended. We stuffed ourselves full of sweet and sour chicken, fried rice, and General Tso's and then headed home. Linc was sweet enough to grab us some ice cream treats while I went right to the room and washed all the black soot off my body. I don't know if I've ever enjoyed a shower more! Clean, full, and exhausted, we hung out in the room and watched TV until bed time. It was a fun day but I think we need to take a break from all this walking!! Thank goodness we planned ahead for the volcano hike and wore sneakers this time! ;)